Hopewatch
Hopewatch amplifies the unwavering commitment of people who tirelessly advocate for racial and social justice.
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
SPLC forms partnership to make data publicly available in gerrymandering fights
Gerrymandering is one of the most entrenched obstacles to fair and representative democracy in the United States. To fight its spread, experts analyze proposed voting district maps and provide testimony in legal challenges. They identify places with diverse populations where councils or legislatures create at-large districts, pack voters of one ethnic group into a single…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Louisiana fight for fair voting map is a beacon of hope for Deep South residents
Voting district lines equal political power. This is why communities redistricted after the 2020 U.S. census results were released, creating new district maps to reflect demographic changes. But five years after the census, the city of Abbeville, Louisiana, is still on its first attempt at drawing new districts. As an attorney for voting rights with…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Critical Memory Project explores history and how we can’t avoid the past
As part of an ongoing multinational effort, members of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s leadership toured sites across Germany, including the massive parade grounds in Munich, the Dachau concentration camp, the courthouse in Nuremberg and Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. The trip was the first part of the Critical Memory Project, a program designed to explore…
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Black Business Month: Remembering to honor historic Black business districts
National Black Business Month, observed in August, was established in 2004 to recognize the lasting impact of Black-owned businesses throughout history and today. The first wave of Black-owned businesses began shortly after the Civil War, when freed Black people turned to entrepreneurship out of necessity. In the following decades, the original historic Black business districts…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Voting Rights Act anniversary a reminder of people’s power to bring change
Seventy years ago, a coalition of young lawyers, activists, preachers and Americans of conscience joined together for a monumental fight: to secure the right to vote and dismantle segregation across the Jim Crow South. Ten years later, the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which celebrates its 60th anniversary today, transformed Black voter participation.…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Apathy Is Not an Option: They’re erasing Black history. We’re not letting them.
As students across the country head back to school, they’re facing a coordinated campaign to rewrite — or erase — Black history from classrooms. But educators, authors and activists aren’t backing down. In the latest episode of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Apathy Is Not an Option podcast, host Alexandria Beightol speaks with two powerful…
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- Eliminating Poverty and Economic Inequality
Making the case that due process is essential for our students to thrive
Due process, the right to fair treatment within governmental systems, is at the core of America’s legal system. It was created to ensure that equity is present in criminal and civil procedures. Without due process, anyone on American soil is in jeopardy of not receiving fair treatment in the legal system. School systems, too, are…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Nine lessons for fighting authoritarianism using art in an age of resistance
It’s no surprise that President Donald Trump’s administration is defunding artists and their capacity to produce art while targeting cultural institutions. Authoritarians have always tried to control the creative community and ruthlessly stamp out art contrary to their ideology. The symbolism of a culture the administration disdains, combined with the power of art to penetrate…
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- Strengthening Democracy & Voting Rights
Inadequate federal election funding endangers voters and our democracy
This week, a U.S. House subcommittee with a wonky name — Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) — will consider a funding bill with significant implications for the health of our democracy. The FSGG bill is the smallest of the 12 funding bills that must pass every year to fund the federal government. It often…
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- Dismantling White Supremacy
Advocates hope LFJ podcast relaunch will disrupt ‘hard history’ continuum
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice (LFJ) program is relaunching the Teaching Hard History podcast series — with host Hasan Kwame Jeffries — to resist current efforts aimed at altering our nation’s history. So, just what is hard history? In the short TEDx video “Confronting Hard History,” Jeffries explains: “[American slavery is] hard history because it’s difficult to…
